How We Breathe Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity

Picking up on our conversation around building modern reparation movements, our discussion with Edgar Villanueva and Nat Chioké Williams sparks ideas about the meaning of restitution and healing and its connection to movements for liberation. We also dive into politics and power within institutions funding Black and Indigenous-led movements and about pain points for progressive leaders working in these spaces. 

In this special episode, BOLD’s Jonathan Stith speaks with Richard Wallace, Executive Director of Equity and Transformation Now and our first guest in Season 1, to get his take on reparations for the War on Drugs in Chicago and other strategies for reparative justice in the US. 


We also connect with podcast Producer Nyasha Laing about her time at the UN Permanent Forum on Afrodescendant Persons, where reparations was central on the agenda. We highlight these urgent discussions and local developments to advance reparations as food for thought for those building power in communities seeking justice, equity, and liberation. 

This episode takes us along the life path of Ife Kilimanjaro, Ph.D, the Spirit-Healer-Warrior, Climate Activist, scholar, and Writer who is currently serving as the Co-Executive Director of Soul Fire Farm, the BIPOC-centered community farm located in upstate New York that uses organic and ancestral farming techniques to combat racism and injustice in the food system. 
In this episode, Ife - a native of Detroit now living in Virginia - speaks about her work to build spaces that can nourish and can support the wholeness of people. Through her story, we explore a deepening relationship with self and land. We explore how moving with mindfulness and generosity across all the places we call home can strengthen our voice, clarify our purpose, and offer the possibility of more enlightened paths to liberation. 


How We Breathe is narrated by BOLD National Organizer, Jennifer Toles.

How We Breathe Returns!

In this episode of season 2, Jonathan Stith, National Field Organizer for BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity) and a host of How We Breathe, welcomes us back to the show and shares more about the work BOLD has been engaged with for the past several months. Jomo has recently returned from BOLD’s new land in rural Georgia and where he co-led a training of over 30 Black lead organizers and directors - focusing on BOLD’s three critical domains: transformative organizing, political education, and embodied leadership. He gives us a sneak peek of upcoming episodes.
How We Breathe invites social justice organizers from across the nation to reflect on powerful gatherings of the past to explore new political tactics for modern Black resistance. Our hosts and guests share the ancestors, practices, and rituals that inspire their work and leadership.
This podcast is powered by the nonprofit Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD).

Our first episode of the year features the dynamic leader Santra Denis, Executive Director of the Miami Workers Center an organization building equity for Miamians. Santra's story takes us back to pivotal moments in the crisis in Haiti and roots us in the linked spiritual and political futures of Black people across the diaspora. She calls us to stand in the gap with communities fighting against their erasure in the face of displacement, public health crises, and climate change.

The voice of Marcus Garvey grounds us in this episode. 

Season 2 of How We Breathe opens with our first host Adaku Utah. Adaku is a facilitator, healer, coach, artist, and is the Organizing Director for the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF). 

Adaku takes us on a journey with her friend and colleague Yamani Yansa Hernandez who served as the first Black Executive Director of NNAF. Yamani is a visionary who has lead in the social sector at neighborhood, city, state, and national levels for over 25 years. Yamani now builds the capacity of other leaders through coaching at the Management Center.

In this episode, Yamani challenges us to think about the complexities of bodily sovereignty. We explore personal resilience, the arc of relationships, and our capacity to become fully autonomous yet interconnected beings seeking liberation together. 
The words of Mary Mcloed Bethune ground us in the introduction of this episode.